In general, body exudates of urine and fecal material should be received and contained by the absorbent article. However, leakage problems are common, especially of fecal material. Furthermore, even if exudates do not leak, they can have an adverse impact on the skin of a user of an absorbent article because of contact between exudates and the buttocks and other areas of the body within the absorbent article.
Conventional absorbent articles include a bodyside liner, an absorbent core, and an outer cover, made as a laminate composite and wrapped around the body of a user as a unified structure. To the extent known, holes in the bodyside liner have not been completely satisfactory to remove fecal material. The materials of the absorbent article, in combination, act to pull the bodyside liner away from the body of the user, forming a gap between the anus of the user and the bodyside liner. This gap allows fecal material to spread both lengthwise of the absorbent article and transversely, between the bodyside liner and the body of the user. Such spreading displaces the fecal material from alignment with any such holes in the bodyside liner. Thus, even if fecal material receiving holes exist in the bodyside liner of known absorbent articles, the fecal material is not efficiently and eptured through such hole and removed from contact with the skin of the user. At times, this gap even allows fecal material to leak from the absorbent article.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,207,663 discloses a urinary and bowel incontinency control undergarment having an elasticized double panel pouch that is suspended from a waistband. A rear elastic seam 36 assists in drawing the inner panel 16 of the pouch between the buttocks of the wearer. However, the elasticity of such structure precludes enhanced positioning of the aperture with respect to a specific body element of the user. An aperture 30 is surrounded by elastic material. No aperture supporting structure or other aperture positioning structure extends frontwardly from the aperture. A separate urinary pad, unrelated to the pouch formed in the rear of the absorbent article, is used to store urine.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,950,262 discloses a bellows type storage member which expands outwardly to store excretions. There is no disclosure of placing the aperture for the storage member in the gluteal fold between the buttocks of a user.